Domestic policies

Following the so-called “supply-side” economic program he propounded in his campaign, Reagan proposed massive tax cuts—30 percent reductions in both individual and corporate income taxes over a three-year period—which he believed would stimulate the economy and eventually increase revenues from taxes as income levels grew. At the same time, he proposed large increases in military expenditures ($1.5 trillion over a five-year period) and significant cuts in “discretionary” spending on social-welfare programs such as education, food stamps, low-income housing, school lunches for poor children, Medicaid (the major program of health insurance for the poor), and Aid to Families ... (100 of 6,617 words)

Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives; United States Office of the Federal Register; and Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).